TSM Town Hall: Triple H/Stephanie/Kurt Love Triangle

[Dandy 0]

What are your thoughts on the Love Triangle angle from 2000? Last week we talked about the Elimination Chamber. This week, we are discussing a major angle from the year 2000. A lot of people just answered the 5 questions that were meant to be an addendum to your opinion last week. Don't just answer the questions...state your opinion on the entire subject before answering the questions. The discussion is what we need.

 

Additional Questions:

 

1. How would you have ended this angle?

2. What long-term impact did the angle have?

3. Would you have ran this angle with other individuals in the roles? If so, whom?

4. Was Kurt Angle better off or worse after the completion of this angle?

5. Was this the best angle of the year 2000? If not, what was?

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

This should honestly be in General Wrestling... But what the fuck...

 

1. How would you have ended this angle? With Stephanie being pregnet after Summerslam, and having weeks on weeks wonder if it was HHH or Kurt, eventually it being Kurts baby, leading to a blowoff match between Kurt and HHH at Wrestlemania.

 

2. What long-term impact did the angle have? None really, the ending was bad and really did nothing for all superstars involved.

 

3. Would you have ran this angle with other individuals in the roles? If so, whom? Possibly The Rock and Jericho poking fun at all three involved leading to feuds. Especially with Jericho...

 

4. Was Kurt Angle better off or worse after the completion of this angle? Although it helped him evulate into main event status, he still wasn't taking serious as a wrestler, and was still looked upon as a joke.

 

5. Was this the best angle of the year 2000? If not, what was? As bad as the ending was, I still think it was the best.

[Dandy 0]

Yeah, I forgot that we do anything over 5 years in General Wrestling. I was just trying to add some discussion to the WWE Folder like Al suggested. Also, I keep trying to point out that the format should be stating your overall opinions on whatever we are discussing and then answer the questions afterward. It was put in bold this time, EHME. Not much discussion can come from answering short questions that are randomly picked out each week.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Well to be honest with you Dandy, this topic there is much discussion to talk about. I think the majority of us all agree that it was a hot angle gone to shit because of a horrible ending. In the end it did nothing for neither wrestlers involved, as Kurt Angle was still the same clown he was before the feud. He still wasn't taken serious. But it did put Angle in the limelight and helped him to main even status.

 

Kurt Angle should've gone over Triple H at Unforgiven 2000, maybe with Stephanie accidently costing HHH the match. But instead they had HHH beat Angle, and that was that.

[Enigma 0]

Agreed. There's really nothing to discuss here. Everyone pretty much agrees that this was the beginning of the downfall for the WWF and a horrible precursor to the Stephanie McMahon booking era.

 

And I thought stuff over 5 years old was supposed to be elsewhere?

[Dandy 0]

We covered that it should be elsewhere, i.e. General Wrestling. It hasn't been moved yet. I disagree that there is nothing to discuss, and I will be posting my thoughts on it later this evening when I have the time. I guarantee we won't all have the same opinions.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

The five year rule was never concrete, just a guideline. Considering the relative paucity of discussion topics, it is perfectly fine in this folder.

[Dandy 0]

My take on this angle is that it was almost done perfectly, including the end of the angle. When I first watched the match that ended the angle, I thought it was a letdown, but I felt a lot different after time passed.

 

The build to this storyline was simply amazing. Kurt Angle is the brash young rookie, while at the same time, a bit goofy. He was a tremendous wrestler, but had an aura of a bumbling twit at times. Triple H and Steph were running the show, and Steph started noticing Kurt and commenting on him from time to time. Triple H was subtly jealous, although it became more apparent and outward as the angle went on. I guess that is what I liked about it so well, as nothing was beaten over our heads, it was subtle, had plenty of layers to the storyline, and the continuity was there until the end. Things like Trish and Trips having their back and forth flirting added much to this storyline. Triple H was pushed as the main heel at the time, and Angle was in his first year in the company. This catapulted Angle into the upper mid-card and had him on the cusp of main events. The ending makes a lot of sense to me in retrospect. Steph knew that she and Triple H were running the company, and she knew that was her meal ticket. Perhaps she knew Triple H would not stop until he was satisfied that Kurt was out of his way. Triple H had Angle beat, and told Stephanie to choose. She chose Triple H, and The Game won the match.

 

Kurt went on to win the Title the next month and held it for four months. Without this angle, I don't think he would have gotten there as quickly. Triple H moved on to the feud with the returning Austin after revealing himself as the mastermind behind Austin getting ran over. It is my opinion that Stephanie needed to be with Triple H at this point, and Kurt was sent on to the title. The angle accomplished what it set out to do: Kurt was moved up the card and "legitimized" in the eyes of the fans as being near the top; Triple H was given a high profile feud that was a slow burn to take up most of the year; and it kept the fans' attention and made for great TV.

 

Additional Questions:

 

1. How would you have ended this angle? At the time, I felt the ending was flat, but I have grown to enjoy it. I think it was the right ending for the feud.

2. What long-term impact did the angle have? Kurt was put over even though he lost the feud. He was in the highest profile feud on the show, and I son't think he could have taken as quick a trip to the title as he did without this feud. I think this feud "made" angle at the time.

3. Would you have ran this angle with other individuals in the roles? If so, whom? With the writing as good as it was in this storyline, I think it would have been successful no matter who played the main roles. However, Triple H needed to be in the angle to make it so high profile, and I can't think of a better person than Kurt to play the new love interest. He was a heel, he was a newcomer, and he had that "aww shucks" vibe to him.

4. Was Kurt Angle better off or worse after the completion of this angle? Much better off.

5. Was this the best angle of the year 2000? If not, what was? In a year of great angles, this was the best.

[bob_barron 0]

The angle never really ended though. Stephanie kicked Angle in the balls, but then became his manager a month later, while HHH awkwardly turned face for a month before being turned heel again to salvage the Austin angle.

 

While everyone agrees it was a good angle, it just ended randomly and they moved onto other things. It really didn't help anyone, since Angle was made to look like a joke his entire reign anyway.

 

A lot of people just answered the 5 questions that were meant to be an addendum to your opinion last week.

 

Then don't even put the questions in then.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

1. How would you have ended this angle?

 

Stephanie acting as if to help Hunter, only turn on him and go heel with Kurt. The fans were dying to get behind the babyface Hunter, and were all too eager to hate Stephanie and Kurt. With Kurt and Stephanie together, you've got two easy-to-hate heels who can rub their duplicity into the face of Hunter who, as both a babyface the fans were dying to get behind and now with an issue that people can relate to, would be even more over than he was. There would be endless possibilities with this storyline, such as Stephanie throwing Hunter of their house or showing Stephanie and Kurt getting cosy in Stephanie's bed; you could even have Stephanie and Kurt gloat that they're going to do what Stephanie and Hunter used to do, and then turn off the lights, the screen goes dark, and they can make it sound like the two are getting intimate. Things like that that would really rub it in and get Kurt/Stephanie over as uber heels, and just imagine the reaction when Hunter, after months of teasing, finally hits the Pedigree on Stephanie and then gets his hand on Kurt.

 

2. What long-term impact did the angle have?

 

This was an angle that had more emotional investment in it from the fans that any angle in a long time. Who couldn't identify with a guy like Hunter who has a girlfriend/wife that seems forever nagging on him and quick to get on him as he protests his innocence. This was an angle that people truly cared about, and when it ended in such a terrible fashion, with the one ending that people absolutely did not want, I think it greatly harmed the audience's ability to get emotionally invested in future storylines. Name one storyline since this one that's even come close in terms of emotional investment from fans? People WANTED Hunter to finally snap on Stephanie, they WANTED a reason to really get behind Hunter and were DYING to be fully able to hate Stephanie. And it got flushed down the toilet. The ending to this storyline, more than any other ending to any other storyline, is what killed the audience's willingness to get invested in storylines and characters.

 

It didn't do anything for anyone. Hunter was a babyface who sided with the girl that nobody liked and nobody wanted to like. Stephanie was still a babyface that nobody wanted to like. And Kurt was the geek who lost the girl and got beaten clean.

 

3. Would you have ran this angle with other individuals in the roles? If so, whom?

 

I think this was the right angle with the right people. Shame about the ending.

 

4. Was Kurt Angle better off or worse after the completion of this angle?

 

Worse. He ending up being the geek who not only lost the girl but lost the feud decisively without ever being treated as a threat. How did that make him any better off?

 

5. Was this the best angle of the year 2000? If not, what was?

 

It was the best angle of the year until the ending.

[Dandy 0]

Then don't even put the questions in then.

Well, that was kind of the format I had in mind. I wanted it to be a bit different from the "Let's Talk About.." threads in General Wrestling. This was supposed to be "state your opinion, but answer these questions at the end." It doesn't make much of a damn, but you can clearly get better discussion when you aren't just answering the questions. It's not my fault that people don't or can't read. HTQ simply answered the questions, but he at least put enough content in there to start the discussion going.

[Guest TheFabulousJakey]

I'm not quite sure how I would have ended this, because you have to take into account that Triple H ended up being involved in the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin hit-and-run just months later. But I definitely think there could have been a way to keep the Triple H/Kurt Angle interactions going into their match at the Royal Rumble, and I still don't know why building into that match they never touched on the past Stephanie had with Kurt.

 

2. What long-term impact did the angle have? I don't think Kurt would have got the belt without proving he could be a key player in a main-event storyline. Other than that, nothing. Like has been said, WWE Creative hit the Reset button so quickly after this storyline: Stephanie ended up being with Kurt but only as a manager, and if you blinked you missed Triple H's face turn.

 

 

3. Would you have ran this angle with other individuals in the roles? If so, whom? Absolutely not. Chris Jericho rocked on the mike, but Kurt Angle was the perfect romantic rival for Triple H: he had that annoying, All-American Eddie Haskell gimmick that was a great antithesis to Triple H's rather boorish nature (you can take the guy out of DX...)

 

4. Was Kurt Angle better off or worse after the completion of this angle? Again, I don't know if he would have been made champion in October if his previous storyline hadn't garnered such an intense reaction from fans. They completely screwed up his title reign after winning the belt, but that's a different topic.

 

5. Was this the best angle of the year 2000? Until the anticlimactic way it ended, yes. This was when WWF was still getting great mainstream exposure, and the media loved to hang onto the idea that it was a soap opera for men. This story worked in that way because nobody was better at syngerizing the canvas than Chris Kreski was.

 

While Triple H and Kurt Angle were feuding, they also had the same goal: winning the WWF Championship from The Rock. A soapy storyline now becomes revolved around the title. The main event before Summer Slam on the "go home" show accomplished, in one match, Kurt and Triple H's supposed allegiance falling apart days before SummerSlam, the champion coming off strong (which will make fans think there's no way he's gonna leave with the belt), and Stephanie's effective lame-duck reign as Women's Champion ending. The week after SummerSlam, Kurt played mind games with Chyna and Eddie Guerrero, incorporating the storyline with Eddie's slow heel turn. Perhaps the storyline is remembered so fondly because just months later things went to shit and we got such gems as Rikishi being the hit-and-run driver and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin dropping Triple H in his car from a forklift.